


Dream A Little Dream

by Dorasolo



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 21:15:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5717383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorasolo/pseuds/Dorasolo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She waits anyway, fighting her exhaustion as long as she can, but she drifts off in the copilot’s chair just like Leia used to do an eternity ago.</p><p>She dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dream A Little Dream

**Author's Note:**

> What if Rey had the family she always wanted?

It's a long trip to find Luke Skywalker. Rey is used to waiting, to telling herself that the next big thing is right around the bend, but it's been incredibly strange ever since that came true. At first Rey is too excited and nervous to sleep, shooting rapid fire questions at Chewie and R2D2 about Luke and his adventures. Chewie is reluctant to talk, lost in grief over Han Solo, but Rey’s endless enthusiasm and Artoo’s chatter knock him out of his stupor and he joins in on storytelling the second day of the trip. Chewie and Artoo talk: of Luke, Leia and Han, from Tatooine to Hoth, to Bespin and Endor. 

She has had a long life of daydreams, of adventures in her mind to take her away from her scrap metal, and the blandness of the ready-grow bread, but it still doesn't seem real that she's now a part of this world. It's so much bigger than her.

Loneliness has been the only constant in her life, and she's felt it for so long that she doesn't know what to do with how full she feels, doesn't know how to explain her creeping sense of belonging and purpose. She's never been a part of anything and though her mission seems certifiably insane, she's ready. 

At the same time, she is completely broken over the sudden death of the first adult she's connected with in her lifetime. She can barely believe that he's dead, and does not want to process that the murderer is his own child. Wrinkling her nose, Rey considers the curiously pale, dark haired man-child, the immature, ridiculous, unstable, ungrateful monster. Despite the monster’s assurances that Han Solo would disappoint her, she refuses to believe it. He had parents, and she did not.

She's always been enthralled with the tales of Han Solo’s adventures, ever since she was little - listening with rapt attention about his pirating days. Those stories barely hold a candle to what she's heard now of his life as a pilot, reluctant rebel and later, as a General. Even with the stories, she's sure that no story can compare to the man she met who offered her a job based on her piloting skills. He saw her and deemed her worthy of more than a portion of food. 

Chewie speaks little of Ben Solo, only to tell her that Han and Leia were happy when they unexpectedly started their little family after the second Death Star’s destruction. Rey understands that once upon a time, Chewie also loved Ben and is heartbroken about the boy that they all lost to the dark side of the Force. She doesn’t need to be Force sensitive to feel that Chewie doesn't regret shooting him, and even darker, that he wishes Kylo Ren dead. She does too, even as she tries to resist the dark temptation of those thoughts. 

When Chewie sets the ship on autopilot through Artoo, he excuses himself to catch some sleep. The Wookiee always ruffles her hair affectionately on the way out, which she appreciates, but she knows he's still hurting. Rey knows he is going to Han’s bunk instead of his own to commune with his ghosts.

Rey tries to stay awake just in case Chewie’s grief becomes too hard for him to bear alone, not expecting that he will come and share his burden with her, an almost stranger. She waits anyway, fighting her exhaustion as long as she can, but she drifts off in the copilot’s chair just like Leia used to do an eternity ago.

She dreams.

***

Rey is in a pilot suit, bright orange, with a helmet covering the top of her face. Poe Dameron congratulates her on a great flight drill and she beams at her captain, proud of herself, and heads towards the exit of the hangar. 

“That’s my girl!” Rey looks to her left and sees Han Solo, waiting for her just outside the door. She runs over to him, smiling so wide she feels her face might burst. 

“Daddy, did you come all the way over here just to see me fly?”

Han scoffs. “I'm not here to learn new tricks, kid. Of course I came to see you. It's not every day I get to see my only child bank a curve like that.” 

He puts his arm around her affectionately and squeezes. “With those moves I bet you could make the Kessel run in 11 parsecs.”

Rey beams again and shoves him lightly in his good shoulder, knowing that while he's pretty graceful for an older guy, blaster wounds leave marks. “Your compliments would mean so much more if I didn't know that you used to tell Poe that kinda stuff, too.”

Han’s mouth quirks up to the side, his trademark smirk, and he shrugs. “Guilty as charged, but hey kid, I mean it about you. Flying lessons from Poe, that's good luck. Flying itself though, that's in your blood. You were born to fly.”

She shakes her head, still smiling. “Watch it, they'll start saying that I also inherited your swelled head.”

“Swelled head? Who are you accusing of having a swelled head? Confidence is nothing to be ashamed of. Even your mom likes my confidence.”

Rey raises a skeptical eyebrow at her father.

“Maybe ‘likes’ is too strong,” Han concedes. “It's too bad she couldn't see you up there.” 

“It’s alright. We both know she does her best.”

“You know, kiddo, while I have you here alone,” Han begins quietly, scratching the back of his suddenly flushed neck, “you don't have to go to Jedi training if you don't want to… Your mom and I want you to know that it's your decision if and when you go. But whatever you want to do, however it ends, just know you can always have a job here, flying for me.”

Rey pauses at her father’s uncharacteristic seriousness. “You're offering me a real pilot job!?” 

“I'm thinking about it. It won't be pretty - I'm not playing favorites just cause you're my kid. But yeah, I'm a General and I could hire you, if you're wanting a job.”

She so badly wants to stay and fly in his squadron, so badly wants to stay with her parents at D’Quar. “You're offering me a job!” 

But she knows as surely as she's ever known anything in her life that she's needed elsewhere. Sighing, she is truly regretful. “I'm flattered, but I have to go. I've waited too long already. I need to learn to control my powers. It's gotten harder with just mom and Uncle Luke has a spot for me, so...”

Han shrugs in agreement. “Sure, kiddo, I know. I get it and all, but think of how sad Uncle Chewie will be when you go.”

She tosses him a sympathetic glance.

“I'll be home before you know it, Dad.” She loops her arm through Han’s and chatters about the barrel roll he saw until they get back to the base.

***

Rey shifts in her sleep, smiling, but doesn't wake.

***

“There we go,” Leia murmurs around a mouthful of hairpins. “That should hold tight.”

Rey looks in the mirror at her own crown of braids, done in the same Alderaanian style as Leia’s. It's different than her usual ponytails, the ones she learned from the Jakku girls at school.

“Thanks, mom.” Rey can't help her sunny disposition, smiling widely at the mirror where Leia can see her face in a reflection. Leia meets her eyes.

“I'm proud of you, Rey.”

Rey has a sudden burst of emotion, which she tries to mask behind her smile. “That means a lot, especially coming from you.” 

“I know it's hard for you to leave,” Leia says, sympathetically, hands on Rey’s shoulders, “so I won't send you away unless that's what you want. I'm proud of you no matter what path you choose.”

“I want to go, really. And just in case, Dad offered me a job if the Jedi thing doesn't work.”

Leia smirks, shaking her head. “Of course he did. Once you bypassed the compressor on that junk ship he bought when you were twelve, he's been telling every sentient being and half the droids about his genius daughter.”

The compliment hurts as much as it soothes.

“I’ll miss you both,” Rey murmurs, turning to face Leia, who hugs her tightly. “But I need to do this.”

Leia nods. “Go. Go to Luke, find your own way.”

They finish packing and hurry to meet Han outside, where he's waiting beside the Millennium Falcon.

Gruffly, he points backward at the ship with his thumb. “I thought maybe you'd want to take her on your trip,” he grumbles, trying not to look emotional about it. 

“And ah, Chewie says he'll be your copilot if you want him to be.”

Chewie warbles hello from the hatch. Rey nods at him, trying not to cry. “I don't have to take your ship, dad. I know you don't like letting her out of your sight.”

He smirks and quirks an eyebrow. “I don't like letting any of my girls out of my sight, but I think she'll be in good hands with you, kid. I'll see her again when Chewie gets back, but I better see you soon, too.” 

Rey nods vigorously. Leia takes his hand and gives him a hug. “You've gone soft,” she murmurs, teasing. 

“Hey,” Han argues, “Who’s gone soft? Nobody's crying here.” 

His eyes are a bit too bright as he holds out his other arm for Rey. The three of them stand together for a long moment, and then Rey slowly walks towards the Falcon with a lump in her throat.

“Rey?”

Leia calls to her daughter, expectantly, and Rey turns around.

“May the Force be with you.” 

***

Rey wakes with a start, disoriented. It takes her a moment to realize that she did not say goodbye to Han Solo, and even longer still to remember that she has no family. She feels angry, and struggles to push the dark presence of that emotion away.

A thought pops into her head without warning, icy cold, terrifying, and not her own. 

_So much affection for the disgraced princess and the low-born Corellian bastard_ , it chides, chuckling, the sound rustling like sand at the bottom of a glass jar.

Pushing her mind shut with all of her might, she resolves to get to Luke Skywalker. She can't shake the fact that he is, indeed, her only hope.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Alex H. and Sam, my bros, for reading this and telling me to finish it.


End file.
